A 10X5 date code on your motor would translate into May 10th, 1993. As you might have guessed, the letter indicates the year. X=1993, Y=1994, Z=1995, A=1996, B=1997, etc. If I'm not mistaken, Estes started letter coding the year in 1975 and stopped in 1999 and then they went back to a numeric year from 2000 onwards.

>Originally Posted by ghrocketman
>The date code on all my E15's is '10X5'
>How does on de-cipher this ?

ok, having flown or sold all my remaining E15's... with only a few catos.... have a question .

there were certain date codes that were initially recalled on thes4e - anyone still kow what those were ?

I think the 10x5 is ok, some casing I have are marked such .

the last pak I had ( sold on ROL ) was the 'recall' date code, as I recall, so never opened em up and tried them .
just don't remember at present what the 'bad' dates were.

i *DO* reccomend clustering them up, maiden flight of my 3.2" upscaled Estes Pathfinder was 4 x E15's, same with my Estes "pro" Patriot - both great ! :-)

later catos will go unmentioned, cost me a couple nice birds :-(

~ AL

I believe some of the 'bad' motors were 15X. For some reason I remember reading that the 10X's were bad, too, but I could be wrong. I flew 8 or 10 of them before my first and only CATO. Called Estes to report it, and whoever answered the phone asked me a couple of questions ("Was it a big rocket?" "Yeah, a scratch-build from parts") and sent me 2 packs of D12's and a Designers Special (no complaints about that!!). They were really fun motors.

Sean

Come on folks, use those computers and those search buttons.

http://groups.google.com/group/rec....3f62c574c667ff5

NAR S&T MOTOR DECERTIFICATION NEWS


Effective immediately, Estes E15 motors with date codes
of 13X10 and 15X11 are decertified for general and contest use.
In April 1994, Estes Industries officially recalled E15 motors
with these two date codes. MESS data collected by NAR Standards
and Testing since August 1994 substantiates this action.


Only these production lots are immediately decertified.
If you possess these motors, Estes asks that you contact your
local retailer for a product exchange in accordance with the recall
announcement issued by Estes to its distributors and retailers.


Due to a year long production hiatus, all other Estes E15
motors will lose contest certification on 1-July-95, except
for contest use at NARAM 37. General use certification will
expire in three years, on 1-July-98, per S&T decertification policy.


At the time these motors are reintroduced, they will undergo
a full certification test as if they were new, first-time motors.


Jim Cook, Secretary for
NAR Standards & Testing

IIRC, there was a casing problem (too large of an ID?) that casued the propellant to casing bond to fail after they finished drying ("curing") after many months. The new E9 underwent EXTENSIVE casing testing, as did the 13, 18 and 24mm motor line. They even added an extra code to motors to indicate casing manufacturer as they fielded casings from 2 different manufacturers so they could track failures if they occurred.

So that's what the extra letter is for. I wonder what the "A" and the "S" actually stand for? Supplier names? City names?